Wall mounted frame featuring front loading capability

Abstract

A front-loaded frame defines a cavity accessible through an opening. The cavity may have an upper pocket and a lower pocket that extend upward and downward of the opening, behind lower and upper lips of the front surface of the frame, respectively. Thereby a display item may be loaded through the opening through a two-step process involving sliding an upper portion of the display item into the upper pocket, which is deeper than the lower pocket, so that a lower portion of the display item clears the lower lip so that the lower portion can be seated along a lower surface of the cavity, while the upper lip prevents the upper portion from falling out of the cavity.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A front-loaded picture frame comprising:
 a body defining a cavity having a cavity height defined by an upper cavity surface and a lower cavity surface;   a front surface of the body having an opening communicating to the cavity, wherein the opening has an opening height; and   opposing upper and lower lips extending toward each other from upper and lower cavity surfaces, respectively, wherein each of the upper and lower lips have an external surface contiguous and flush with said front surface.   
     
     
         2 . The front-loaded picture frame of  claim 1 , wherein each of the upper and lower lips define upper and lower pockets of the cavity, respectively. 
     
     
         3 . The front-loaded picture frame of  claim 2 , wherein the upper lip has an upper length that is at least twice a lower length of the lower lip. 
     
     
         4 . The front-loaded picture frame of  claim 3 , wherein a cavity width of the cavity is coextensive with an opening width of the opening. 
     
     
         5 . The front-loaded picture frame of  claim 4 , further comprising a display item having an item depth that substantially fills a cavity depth of the cavity, wherein the display item is seated in the cavity so that an upper and lower portion of the display item is behind the upper and lower lips, respectively. 
     
     
         6 . The front-loaded picture frame of  claim 5 , further comprising a display pane approximately coextensive with the display item. 
     
     
         7 . A method of making a front-loaded frame for a display item, the method comprising:
 forming a cavity in a frame body so that upper and lower lips extend from upper and lower surfaces of the cavity, respectively, wherein the upper lip has an upper length at least twice that of a lower length of the lower lip, wherein the upper and lower lips define upper and lower cavity pockets, respectively;   dimensioning a cavity depth of the cavity to be approximately ten percent deeper than an item depth of the display item; and   dimensioning a height of an opening defined between the upper and lower lips so that the cavity depth and the lengths of the upper and lower lips are dimensioned so that an upper portion of the display item needs to be moved from an external environment into substantially an entirety of the upper pocket before a lower portion of the display item can clear the lower lip so as to be seated in the lower pocket.